Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I’m hip!

I’m in Exam Grading Hell just now and don’t yet have time to write up a proper post, though I’ve taken a break now and again to contribute to the fireworks over my latest ID post over at W4. A reader in the combox below remarks: “Prof. Feser, I used to think that you were anti-ID because of wanting to be in with the sophisticated Darwinians.” Well, you know me, always the trend follower; The Last Superstition is a veritable Hipster’s Bible. In fact, my personal anthem is the Dave Frishberg/Bob Dorough classic “I’m Hip,” as sung by Blossom Dearie (pictured at left, looking perhaps obliquely hip), which you can hear for yourself courtesy of YouTube. So groove along with your swingin’ pal Ed, as I begin reading the next (74th) exam on the pile.
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4 comments:

  1. BilboApril 13, 2010 at 10:21 PM

    Cute, but no Helen Ward.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KyleApril 14, 2010 at 2:08 AM

    Hey Dr. Feser,
    Since he was mentioned in TLS for having converted to deism based on Aquinas' work (although he agreed with just about every traditional attribute of god according to Habermas), I thought you would find this obituary from the National Center for Science Education amusing:

    http://ncse.com/news/2010/04/antony-flew-dies-005438

    "Toward the end of his life, Flew announced that he was renouncing his atheism in favor of a form of deism. The reasons for his conversion seemed to shift from interview to interview, although arguments associated with various forms of creationism were frequently mentioned. Flew's There is a God (2007) failed to clarify the matter, since, as The New York Times (November 24, 2007) revealed, Flew acknowledged that "he had not written his book."

    Of course, Flew never acknowledged that in the hackjob presented by the NY Times. Those were Oppenheimer's words.

    The Times article also has this gem:

    "Intellectuals, even more than the rest of us, like to believe that they reach conclusions solely through study and reflection. But like the rest of us, they sometimes choose their opinions to suit their friends rather than the other way around. Which means that Flew is likely to remain a theist, for just as the Christians drew him close, the atheists gave him up for lost. “He once was a great philosopher,” Richard Dawkins, the Oxford biologist and author of “The God Delusion,” told a Virginia audience last year. “It’s very sad.” Paul Kurtz of Prometheus Books says he thinks Flew is being exploited. “They’re misusing him,” Kurtz says, referring to the Christians. “They’re worried about atheists, and they’re trying to find an atheist to be on their side.”"

    Yeah, that's it. We're worried about atheists so instead of arguing intellectually, we're trying to convince them by becoming their friends while they're in an advanced age...of course, Antony himself responded to the New York Times by saying "I may be old, but it's hard to manipulate me" and that the book was completely his...ahh the atheist tactics.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BilboApril 14, 2010 at 5:01 AM

    I'm starting a new charitable organization: Friends of Atheists. We support Christians in their attempts to befriend atheists in their various professions. Send your charitable tax-exempt donation today to....

    ReplyDelete
  4. BilboApril 14, 2010 at 5:31 AM

    I read Flew's book. If I remember, he begins by considering ID arguments, but then shifts to discuss what is really Aquinas's teleological argument, which seemed to cement it for him.

    I wonder if there is a lesson here. Did the ID arguments make it easier for Flew to seriously consider St. Thomas's argument, which has been around much longer?

    If so, then perhaps Thomists should hesitate before attacking ID.

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